Human error trigerred Jamaica's island-wide power outage

FeaturedJPS President and CEO Kelly Tomblin admitted that human error at the Hunts Bay Power Station triggered the blackout. She also revealed that the company is facing challenges in providing energy to its customers.

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Aug. 28, – JPS President and CEO Kelly Tomblin has disclosed that human error at the Hunts Bay Power Station was the cause of a power cut that plunged the island into darkness for several hours on Saturday.

The JPS CEO says action will be taken against those responsible for the power outage.

She revealed that a senior technician at the JPS is under investigation.

She also revealed that the company is facing challenges in providing energy to its customers.

“I have to evaluate whether we need a design modification, whether we need re-engineering. …. We recognize that we are loosing a lot of our technology expertise. So we started back in April, a plan to improve out technical skills.

Tomblin says the JPS is now looking overseas to recruit experienced engineers and technicians to replace those leaving the company.

“And we have looked in Cuba to see if people are there - but people are having a difficulty seeing utilities as the key place to work globally….”

The outage occurred shortly before 6:00pm (local time) – a situation that the light and power company, the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) has attributed to a “procedural error” which led to several generating units going off-line simultaneously.

Early Sunday, the JPS said electricity was fully restored to all 14 parishes and the investigation was underway.

The Jamaica Public Service (JPS) says it will have to re-evaluate its distribution system in order to prevent another major shut down of its power grid. This follows Saturday’s islandwide power outage.

In response, Energy Minister Dr. Andrew Wheatley said the power outage was “unacceptable” and has asked for a preliminary report to be submitted on Monday, and a final report on Thursday.

This is the second power outage of this nature so far this year – with the first occurring in April.

According to Wheatley customers could claim if the outage damaged electrical equipment.

He also noted that the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR), may conduct its own investigation.

“This investigation is important to ensure that the necessary action is taken to ensure that we do not have a recurrence…”the Energy Minister said.

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